TY  - JOUR
A1  - Balta Beylergil, Sinem
A1  - Beck, Anne
A1  - Deserno, Lorenz
A1  - Lorenz, Robert C.
A1  - Rapp, Michael Armin
A1  - Schlagenhauf, Florian
A1  - Heinz, Andreas
A1  - Obermayer, Klaus
T1  - Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex contributes to the impaired behavioral adaptation in alcohol dependence
JF  - NeuroImage: Clinical : a journal of diseases affecting the nervous system
N2  - Substance-dependent individuals often lack the ability to adjust decisions flexibly in response to the changes in reward contingencies. Prediction errors (PEs) are thought to mediate flexible decision-making by updating the reward values associated with available actions. In this study, we explored whether the neurobiological correlates of PEs are altered in alcohol dependence. Behavioral, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were simultaneously acquired from 34 abstinent alcohol-dependent patients (ADP) and 26 healthy controls (HC) during a probabilistic reward-guided decision-making task with dynamically changing reinforcement contingencies. A hierarchical Bayesian inference method was used to fit and compare learning models with different assumptions about the amount of task-related information subjects may have inferred during the experiment. Here, we observed that the best-fitting model was a modified Rescorla-Wagner type model, the “double-update” model, which assumes that subjects infer the knowledge that reward contingencies are anti-correlated, and integrate both actual and hypothetical outcomes into their decisions. Moreover, comparison of the best-fitting model's parameters showed that ADP were less sensitive to punishments compared to HC. Hence, decisions of ADP after punishments were loosely coupled with the expected reward values assigned to them. A correlation analysis between the model-generated PEs and the fMRI data revealed a reduced association between these PEs and the BOLD activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of ADP. A hemispheric asymmetry was observed in the DLPFC when positive and negative PE signals were analyzed separately. The right DLPFC activity in ADP showed a reduced correlation with positive PEs. On the other hand, ADP, particularly the patients with high dependence severity, recruited the left DLPFC to a lesser extent than HC for processing negative PE signals. These results suggest that the DLPFC, which has been linked to adaptive control of action selection, may play an important role in cognitive inflexibility observed in alcohol dependence when reinforcement contingencies change. Particularly, the left DLPFC may contribute to this impaired behavioral adaptation, possibly by impeding the extinction of the actions that no longer lead to a reward.
KW  - Alcohol dependence
KW  - Prediction error
KW  - Reinforcement learning
KW  - Reversal learning
KW  - Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
KW  - Decision-making
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2017.04.010
SN  - 2213-1582
VL  - 15
SP  - 80
EP  - 94
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sebold, Miriam Hannah
A1  - Deserno, Lorenz
A1  - Nebe, Stefan
A1  - Schad, Daniel
A1  - Garbusow, Maria
A1  - Haegele, Claudia
A1  - Keller, Juergen
A1  - Juenger, Elisabeth
A1  - Kathmann, Norbert
A1  - Smolka, Michael N.
A1  - Rapp, Michael Armin
A1  - Schlagenhauf, Florian
A1  - Heinz, Andreas
A1  - Huys, Quentin J. M.
T1  - Model-based and model-free decisions in alcohol dependence
JF  - Neuropsychobiology : international journal of experimental and clinical research in biological psychiatry, pharmacopsychiatry, Biological Psychology/Pharmacopsychology and Pharmacoelectroencephalography
N2  - Background: Human and animal work suggests a shift from goal-directed to habitual decision-making in addiction. However, the evidence for this in human alcohol dependence is as yet inconclusive. Methods: Twenty-six healthy controls and 26 recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients underwent behavioral testing with a 2-step task designed to disentangle goal-directed and habitual response patterns. Results: Alcohol-dependent patients showed less evidence of goal-directed choices than healthy controls, particularly after losses. There was no difference in the strength of the habitual component. The group differences did not survive controlling for performance on the Digit Symbol Substitution Task. Conclusion: Chronic alcohol use appears to selectively impair goal-directed function, rather than promoting habitual responding. It appears to do so particularly after nonrewards, and this may be mediated by the effects of alcohol on more general cognitive functions subserved by the prefrontal cortex.
KW  - Alcohol dependence
KW  - Decision-making
KW  - Reinforcement learning
KW  - Dopamine
KW  - Computational psychiatry
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1159/000362840
SN  - 0302-282X
SN  - 1423-0224
VL  - 70
IS  - 2
SP  - 122
EP  - 131
PB  - Karger
CY  - Basel
ER  -